Very Painfull Throat Cramp

[MandySlade]

The first time this happened to me I was 18. I'm 30 now and it will still happen on occasion. Sometimes I'll go 2 months without it.. sometimes it will happen 2 or 3 times in a week. It's usually when I'm sitting/laying with my head in a funny position and I laugh or yawn at the same time. I get this sudden sharp pain and it hurts incredibly bad to swallow. Things just don't feel "right" in my throat. It feels almost exactly like a charlie horse in your leg, only it's in my throat/neck, always in the front and slightly to one side. I try to swallow but it hurts really bad. Sometimes if I press on it I can feel it kind of "pop" and then the pain goes away. Sometimes if force myself to swallow really hard the same "pop" will happen and the pain goes away. These events typically last from 20 seconds to (the longest being) a full 5 minutes. Most commonly though, it lasts about 1-2 minutes. I guess if it's been happening for 12 years I'm probably fine... but every once in awhile (like now) it'll scare the shit out of me. If they happen a couple times in one week (like this week) I start getting stressed about it. I start thinking (like we all do) what if it's a symptom of something huge and I've just been shrugging it off?

Anyone else ever get these? Any idea what it could be? Just a fluke? Possibly something serious?

[Girl_Interrupted]

Hi, i've had this b4, usually goes away after a few minutes, my jaw feels a bit sore afterwards. I get it sometimes when I yawn. I've never really panicked about this one, I guess somewhere in my rationale brain tells me I'm ok. If this is something u've been having since you were 18 and now ur 30 my guess is 'if' it was something serious u'd know by now. Like any symptom that worries us is see how long you can go b4 you see the doctor, the chances are it might go away on it own accord. If however you are worried speak to ur doctor and ask them for advice about it.

Hope that helps

xx

[Going home]

Hello,

Yes its quite possible to pull a throat muscle, and its common to do so when yawning or coughing, even sneezing! If you're an anxious person your throat muscles will be as tense as any other muscles in your body, but the throat is not a place where you can 'rest' the muscles as you can with a leg or arm say...because your throat is constantly tensing anyway, with talking, swallowing, yawning etc. Please don't worry, its painful for a while but nothing sinister...

Going home xx

[Cat80]

omg, you sound exactly like me. Mine's been happening since I was 12 and I'm now 29. It happens if I lay funny (so now I have loads of pillows), if I yawn, if I sing etc. It's very very painful, feels like something is rubbing against something everytime I swallow. I usually can get it back in by coughing loads but the longest it has been out is 3 days as a teenager. I couldn't eat or anything as it was so painful. It used to just happen on one side of my neck now it happens on both and my throat feels strained all the time.

Can't believe I've found someone with the same thing, I've spent ages googling it and nothing ever comes up.

[joltesvig]

Hello,

Yes its quite possible to pull a throat muscle, and its common to do so when yawning or coughing, even sneezing! If you're an anxious person your throat muscles will be as tense as any other muscles in your body, but the throat is not a place where you can 'rest' the muscles as you can with a leg or arm say...because your throat is constantly tensing anyway, with talking, swallowing, yawning etc. Please don't worry, its painful for a while but nothing sinister...

Going home xx

I agree with Going Home. Thank you for noting that anxious persons sometimes build up tense muscles in the throat. In my case the pain in my throat can become pretty dramatic. The first time it hit my was in 1989 when I was driving and very tense about concerns at work after consuming several cups of coffee. My throat tighten-up and became painful within a very short period of time. It was painful enough that I thought something was seriously wrong. I pulled to the side of the road and tried to calm myself and took several relaxing deep breaths. Finally after five minutes it slowly subsided...thankfully. But it came back later that afternoon when the tension built up to the point of triggering the severe throat pain again. I learned by trial and error that if drink some water, the pain goes away after 6 or 7 gulps. At least I hit on a sure way to stop the pain quickly!
Since retiring the last few years I do not get this like before. But I noticed the onset yesterday when I was getting tense about a car repair I was working on. I remembered to start drinking some water and it did not build up to the point of panic as in the past.

[honeyp1e]

I've been really anxious since this afternoon I got this sharp feeling in my throat and keep swollowing to get rid of it but it won't go its more in the left side of my throat just feels like its been cut or something but the last thing I ate was a ham sandwich and that was nice and soft but its making me real anxious

[Anxious_gal]

It's really really common, In fact I'm nearly always careful when I yawn, I have gotten throat cramps so much that I have trained my body not to over do the yawn!

They are scary though, I've seen lots of posts on the internet and most describe it as a charlie horse , although I don't know what that is, I'm guessing it's another word for cramp?

When I get it, I always sorta panic , but all you can do it wait for it to pass , they can be very painful too at times.

[MandySlade]

Yeah, I'm actually not phobic about this anymore (this is an old thread) it still happens to me occasionally but now I've accepted it as just some odd cramp I have a tendency to get. I also noticed that when I don't instantly panic upon it happening, and instead try to breathe normally and slowly swallow or slightly stretch my neck, I can make it go away much faster. Before, I would jolt up.. start pacing.. and be afraid to swallow or move.. thusly causing it to last a minute or two.

[stigmatisert]

Inside your body, you find "smooth muscle". These you can't control voluntary and are not able to "strech out" got loosen up the cramp...

I was told I had a "lump" in my throat, and my GP concluded that there was an "lump of anxiety" because of certain things happening the previous year.

I've now realized that a "lump of anxiety" isn't that painful, far, far to late. The problem is, at the "lump" developed. It was constant and so painful that I didn't manage being at work anylonger. By a half year later it had developed so far, I was sure I had something stuck in my throat. I was thoroughly examinated. They didn't find anything wrong. I couldn't believe it. My GP got another reason for calling it a "lump of anxiety". First - after looking up on the Internet - I began to get some answers. I found some texts just before visiting a private neurologist (cost me 200£!), told her my symptoms. Let her conduct her examination. She gave me a muscle-relaxing medication. In two days my life changed from a hell to almost normal. I could start live again.

Some tips:
* take magnesium. The muscle needs it for relaxation. When they've gone into constant cramp. It's too late...
* trust your symptoms. Don't let the GP tell you have anxiety because you have physical symptoms. Anxiety is something you feel and think. Cramp is pain. (They ought to learn the difference).
* Don't be fooled to think it's anxiety because the "lump" goes away because the Emergency (ER) gives you valium for calming you down. Valium, as well, is a muscle relaxing medication for smooth muscles.

[Doctor me]

Thank you. I was lying in bed and took a sip of water which brought on the most painful throat cramp on one side. I've had this before and it is distressing but has always subsided within a few seconds. When this one lasted longer I did a google search and found your helpful post. I was able to get relief by sitting straight up and raising my headand gently swallowing a few times. It really hurt but it resolved the problem. You're the best!!